Vegetable Gardening 101

March 9, 2010: Master gardeners Dave and Casey Kneipp, founders of the Cheverly Community Vegetable Garden, presented an informative program on the basics for starting a vegetable garden. They discussed site, soil, seeds and sustaining. Casey said the only topic not covered was the "no work garden."

President Vira Sisolak (r) shows off Tony Pontorno's vegetable centerpiece.

Casey stressed soil testing and, in the following discussion, lead and arsenic were raised as two concerns in Capitol Hill gardens. Raised beds with new soil would avoid these concerns.

Dave demonstrated the mobility of a salad box:

From left to right, the containers contain standard yard soil, artificial growing medium and organic soil amendments (l); Tony Pontorno's vegetable centerpiece anchored the refreshment's table:

More information on many of the topics discussed can be found here.